Bukayo Saka is special. Arsenal fans knew it. Now, the world knows it.
Making steady gains across the past few years, growing into his skin, Saka is now no longer Arsenal’s “starboy”, and is indeed the star of the show for both club and country.
With England crashing out of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at the iron-clad clutches of current world champions France, claims that the better team, on the night, were the vanquished, the defeated, might just ring true, and Saka was an integral part in this valiant performance.
The Gunners forward ran and battled and weaved and turned, and was often the focal point as the Three Lions attempted to bypass the sturdy French defence, with Sofascore recording his match performance at 7.6, bettered by no player on the pitch for either side.
The 21-year-old had one shot on goal, won England’s first penalty, succeeded with eight of his whopping 16 dribble attempts, and made two key passes.
He was also fouled four times and made three successful tackles, embodying the performance of a truly world-class footballer, and without him England might not have had the bite they did bring against Les Bleus, whose quality and experience helped them creep over the finish line.
And across the entire tournament, Saka was fantastic, recording an average rating of 7.6, scoring three goals and averaging 1.8 shots and 1.8 tackles per match, a ubiquitous and tenacious presence.
As the “revelation”, as lauded by Ray Parlour, returns to Mikel Arteta and to Arsenal with his head held high, and he can indeed help the club with a central role in the pursuit of the Premier League trophy.
With the domestic season promptly to resume, with Arsenal in first place, five points clear of Manchester City in second, cautious optimism is brimming from the Emirates Stadium, despite a recent long-term injury sustained to Brazilian talisman Gabriel Jesus in Qatar.
And with the recent news from prominent reporter David Ornstein that Arsenal have made prodigious 21-year-old Mykhaylo Mudryk their prime target this winter, Arsenal’s endeavours might get more fruitful, with Saka one to benefit.
Scoring five goals and six assists across 20 club matches this season, the £103m-rated phenom has been an integral cog in the Gunners’ engine, and with Jesus’ injury, the workload might have got too extreme, the burden too strenuous, ahead of the business end of the campaign.
Mudryk, scorer of ten goals and server of eight assists this season, can offer a new dimension to the attack, a direct approach with deft feet and movement like lightning.
And Saka, who ranks within the top 14% for shot-creating actions and the top 8% for touches in the opposing penalty area this term, as per FBref, can look to channel that influence toward the Ukrainian, who could reap the rewards from Saka’s creative flair and eye for a pass.
Saka is immense, and he is becoming a winger of supreme quality on the global stage, and with Arsenal’s likely addition of Mudryk, a formidable and frightening partnership could be forged, capable of taking the Gunners to the next level.